As Kamila Valieva finished her figure skating routine and burst into tears, the coach of one of her opponents declared the integrity of the Olympics ruined.
The Russian 15-year-old, who tested positive for a banned drug yet was still allowed to compete, leads the competition as expected at the halfway point.
But if she or the Russian team thought the fury had subsided, they were very much mistaken.
Adam Rippon, coach of 11th placed American skater Mariah Bell, blasted: “Dirty cheaters, and we are accommodating them. I don’t know how the Olympics recovers from this.”
Rippon, a two-time former World Junior champion, did not mince his words as Valieva moved two points clear of a second Russian skater, Anna Shcherbakova.
“What this says is that the team around her are child abusers,” he told the New York Post. “The only thing they care about is performance, and not the health and well-being of their athletes.
“They are a factory that pumps out children who can compete, up to a certain point. It doesn’t feel like the coaches involved in the ladies’ program are coaches at all, but dog trainers; they’re running a circus.
“It is shocking and it is disappointing. It ruins the integrity of the Olympics. I don’t think ever in the history of the Olympics somebody with a positive test has been allowed to compete.”
The International Olympic Committee stand accused of letting down the sport by not coming down firmly on Russia in 2016 when the full extent of their cheating at the Sochi Winter Olympics two years previously was proven.
By effectively letting them off the hook Russia were not forced to mend their ways, leading to this week’s scenario in which a child with a positive test is allowed to compete rather than kick her out of the Games and risk causing “irreparable” harm.
“If they are truly worried about the irreparable harm, set her up with proper counselling to deal with the incredibly sad situation she finds herself in and send her home,” Rippon tweeted.
“The irreparable harm that will be done is to the entire Olympic Games. She shouldn’t be allowed to compete.”
